Guild Wars 2

I picked up GW2 three years ago, but I actually started playing it a few weeks ago after HoT. I chose the profession which interested me the most. I leveled my Elementalist up to 80, did a few Tyria Mastery levels and then moved into HoT.

I have played this type of character many times from the most unforgiving games to the easiest. I have found that HoT with my Elementalist may not be the best combination for me. I like to sign on and play casually mainly solo in the open world not having to worry if a random mob is going to take me out like a mack truck. I need in other words a profession that is very forgiving of mistakes.

I have done some research on this very question, and from the comments I have seen, the Necromancer and Ranger seem to fit this bill. Both have qualities that would be great for solo play in HoT. I’ve leveled both a Ranger and Necro up to 30ish. I can’t really get a feel for what either would be like at the HoT level.

That being said, are their any final opinions from seasoned players over which of these professions both which I enjoy would best suit my casual and solo play style? Thanks for your attention.

Reaper has a lot of sustain. Try out the DPS build in heart of the mists and see if it’s something that would interest you in PvE.

You might look into redoing your elem’s gear, if you’re running a high dps setup, then yea, it’s gonna be rough until you know enemy mechanics and such. Definitely a lot of enemies that can drop you instantly, if you don’t pay attention to aoes/targets etc.

As for other classes, I took my zerk ranger through with no issue, probably the easiest of the classes I have (zerk guard, hybrid war, zerk mes, zerk rev etc lol). Especially once you get druid unlocked, the immobs n heals are quite nice.

Either will be good in HoT.

Reaper has a ton of survivability, but you have to fill out most of the elite spec to get there. It’s a blast to play, too.

Ranger, on the other hand, can pretty well skate through the HoT zones without any of the elite spec filled out at all. I’ve been playing a condi ranger through all the HoT content, and it’s quite fun, too.

I do fine on my elementalist in HoT, using celestial gear. Are you running zerker?

Solo play in HoT is harsh. anyway the main problema is the mobs on your way to some point, must avoid than fight them, mainly the raptors.

i still use zerker on Warrior, but after many length tests for months, i find that discipline+defense+strength is still superior to any combination with berserker trait line.

For solo play, Ranger is the better choice. It’s possibly the easiest class to play in the open world, even with a full glass build.

I had my Elementalist in full zerker gear hoping to just cut down everything that popped up before they could kill him. That did work for the most part, but gosh, there was no room for being sloppy. Run away sometimes, die trying or just die. I did look into changing out his gear which is still just exotic, but it still didn’t seem like he could take much of a beating.

Anyway, I understand fully that HoT isn’t meant to be easy, and I like that. Most of the events are intended for groups. However, my style right now is definitely more laid back, and I’m really wanting to emulate the Old World feeling of exploration in Tyria.

In other words, I don’t want to be so keyed up looking over my shoulder all the time. I’m afraid that I only have so much time to invest in a main character. So, I have to choose wisely from the two professions. I like both. I guess I’m just asking which at level 80 without a full elite spec would stand up to to being beaten up in HoT.

I’m gathering that Ranger might fit this bill from the comments. If so, what sort of non-elite build would I want to go with and what type of armor type/mix? Thanks again for the attention and the comments thus far.

I do fine on my zerker ranger. Using the ranger properly you should be able to survive almost anything on that. Getting some of the HoT pets is pretty cool anyway.

Easiest zerker professions for me are:

Reaper necro: Just get the grandmaster trait Unholy Sanctuary in Death Magic and live forever. I like GS and A/W.

Druid ranger: Get master trait Natural Healing in Beastmastery, slot Signet of the Wild. Switch to druid whenever you need more healing (like possibly every ten seconds) press 4 then 3 and you are back in action. I run S/A and longbow.

One of my characters is a Daredevil and they can hold their own, or at least escape. XD
It makes exploration less tedious and more adventuresome.

Necro and/or Reaper. Deathshroud is basically a second life bar, and you can use it to push you through heavy damage and just sacrifice your life force over your actual life. And we have an ungodly amount of life compared to most classes. I have 19k life in berserker gear. True story. Reaper, great sword, and shouts also give you accesses to all sorts chill, blinds, and stuns. Also life siphon. Don’t roll healing power, but life siphon can really help prop your life up. It’s really cake to play compared to many other classes in HoT.

Another choice might be mesmer because they have a very large bag of tricks. Teleports, stealth, projectile reflects, etc. Guardian in tankier gear seems to fair well even as dragon hunter, I finally got the elite last night. Slow though, compared to my necro that just spins and wins all the time.

Yep, I took my elem to VB first, was rough, doable, but rough, high risk with minimal reward.
So I decided to take my tankier chars, even a zerk guard has an easy time getting through lol. Learned the maps, learned the mechanics, etc, and now I’m taking my ele through.
A lot easier when you know which mobs to focus down first, and where to go/not go.

I’ve dabbled in many classes but Ranger is still my main. It’s easy and fun to play for my casual style. I’m basically using this build but with Soldier’s armor (berserker trinkets and weapons) because I don’t like dying. I’m usually the guy resurrecting people in events (I like to be helpful that way).

I feel safe and comfortable at range and can solo many things (important because I mostly play solo). But I can also jump into the melee fray just for fun.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_S/A_LB_Spotter